I've got an old Oscar Schmidt 21 chord autoharp that needs a lot of work,,,new felts, new springs and new strings....Would like to know if anyone has one for sale to save me the trouble of repairing my old one.....

Frank Of Toledo......E mail me at flnjjones@harborside.com if you know of any for sale....thanks a lot...Frank of Toledo

There are currently 69 different Autoharp listings on EBay. I looked at one that listed a 21 bar harp for acurrent bid of $152.00. Seems high to me for a Schmidt and I don't care for the 21 bar harps but they are out there. You should be able to find a good replacement for yourself.

Lets see. New strings are more than $100.00 at Juststrings.com, refelting the bars will cost that much anyway, springs are probably .15 a piece. Does that help decide whether to buy new or fix up?

Francy- First off I admit I'm prejudiced against 21 chord harps, because I bought one and found it to be more trouble mechanically than the extra chords are worth. The chord bars, due to their very narrow spacing stuck a lot, and it was a general pain to play. So I bought a 15 chord conversion kit, which, (to me), is less problematic. I refelted a few of the bars to get chords not available in the standard set-up, like B flat and B minor. This was about fifteen years ago, but I'd bet you can still buy such a set up from Oscar Schmidt. I don't recall the cost, but it didn't seem prohibitive, and replacing the whole chord bar structure was easy for me. You do have to drill a couple of new holes, and it leaves a couple of holes in the top from the old 21 string cover. No big deal to me.

Changing the strings is another matter. I'd rather change four flat tires in a snowstorm than string an autoharp. The last time I restrung my harp, it took all day. And then the strings didn't settle in for at least a month or two, without constant re-tuning. I'd go with the old strings for as long as possible. Harp purists may cringe at the thought, but then I just have a cheap old OS, and the lack of absolutely brilliant strings doesn't bother me near as much as the thought of changing them.

Don- Does a set of autoharp strings really cost a hundred bucks? That's outrageous. The last set I bought was about forty, of course that was about fifteen years ago. (I don't play the harp all that much). I'd upgrade to a new harp with with a solid wood top and new strings before I paid a hundred dollars for a new set of strings. Thanks, BlueJay

I get my autoharp supplies (strings, felts, etc.) from a great little hole-in-the-wall outfit here in Madison, Wi. called Spruce Tree Music. They've got a website, but I can't recall the URL. Just plug the name into a browser and you should come up with it.

I got a set of strings a year or so ago for about 45 bucks.

These guys are set up for sales, repair, lessons and (the ever-popular) consulting and they are a good resource for string players of all sorts. Besides, they've got two golden labradors that you have to step over or around when you visit and its the dogs that actually run the store.

one of the best autoharpists I have met, Ron Wahl, claimed many years ago that 'most' broken strings on a 'harp are due to metal fatigue right where they do around the post near the tuning peg......so he loosened them and put vaseline on the peg to reduce the wear....he said he had gone 2-3 years without breaking a string, and he played HARD!....and it's not like guitar strings, where they have to be changed regularly for good sound.

Dear Looking to Buy 21 chord Autoharp. My name Debbie and we have a Autoharp. I know nothing about them, but can describe it. From what I have read this one is going to really hurt the fingers. It has 30 strings. The manufactured and trade mark registered is by Oscar Schmidt-International, Inc., 87 Ferry St., Jersey City 7, N.J. Can you tell me anything about this Harp. Thanks, Debbie